Heres a few of my own
thoughts on how to avoid internet fraud.Recently a few of us detectorists
had are equipment stolen from a guy called Casey Chaney.We agreed
to trade with him and shipped our equipment off and got nothing
in return.If you have any other ideas you would like to contribute
please contact me.

1.Avoid any type of
return address that you arent familiar with like PMB addresses.These
are postal mail boxes that apparently people rent from a company
not associated with the post office.

2. Be suspicious of free email
addresses.Most people arent thieves but the real thieves like
to hide behind these addresses.Thats what this Chaney guy did.He
also said he worked in Mexico, his company was in San Diego and
his wife would ship the package from another state! So beware
of funny sounding stories like that!!

3. Get references if you can
on the person you are dealing with if they are unfamilar to you
and check them out.Find out if they have done buisness with anyone
else on the internet as far as buying, selling , or trading goes.Also
you might check to see if they have any feedback from Ebay.Possibly
talk to them over the phone but that doesnt guarantee anything.Get
as much info as you can on them!

4. Write the serial number
of your detector down and try to get the serial number of the
detector you are going to get.Then check with the manufactorer
to see if the detector is as new as they claim! If they refuse
to give it, I would avoid doing buisness with them!

5. When selling a detector
over the internet I would accept only postal money orders or a
payment thru Paypal.If you ship your detector C.O.D. make sure
the other person is aware that UPS wont allow them to open the
package before they receive it.You might send them photos of the
detector.